Bob Donnan-Imagn Images All the Dallas Cowboys news that’s fit to print Micah Parsons lays out powerful reason to keep playing winning football despite Cowboys’ low playoff chances – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports Micah Parsons has been the most vocal leader of the anti-tank team in Dallas, and after a two-sack game against the Panthers this message was clear. For Micah Parsons, who picked up two sacks and two tackles for loss on Sunday’s 30-14 win over the Carolina Panthers, there are even more reasons to be all in, even if they don’t necessarily have to do with the Cowboys’ chances of making the playoffs. “We’re not going to give up, as long as I’m part of this unit, as long as we believe in each other, at the end of the day I can look to my left and know I can count on them,” Parsons told reporters postgame. “We’re fighting for each other. There’s a lot of guys fighting for new contracts, guys fighting to take care of their families, so there’s still a lot of football to be played. You don’t want to put anything bad on film or things like that. We’re fighting for each other at this point.” For fans, it’s easy to get caught up in playoff chances and even draft positioning when things aren’t going great. But for players, every game matters. That’s why tanking isn’t a thing in the NFL. These are grown men fighting for their livelihood week in and week out. And even for stars like Parsons, whose future appears to be more than safe with a looming contract extension, fighting for teammates is highly important. Parsons says that’s enough to be motivated on gameday, calling it a “special feeling” to fight for the locker room. “At the end of the day, the record is the record, the game is the game,” the Cowboys superstar said. “We’re going to lose some, we’re going to win some, but it’s a special feeling when you can fight for each other.” Underrated Cowboys star prices himself out of Dallas with latest dominant game – Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat Osa Odighizuwa is putting together a very productive season, and it’s come in a contract year. Osa Odighizuwa might be too expensive for the Cowboys to re-sign Odighizuwa has been one of the most dominant interior defenders in the NFL this season. That continued on Sunday to the tune of six pressures, one sack, three quarterback hits, four defensive stops and a career-high 91.6 pass-rush grade, via Pro Football Focus. Only Chiefs superstar Chris Jones (66) and Broncos standout Zach Allen (56) have more pressures this season than Odighizuwa (51) this year, per PFF (subscription required). The former third-round pick also ranks second in QB hits, third in pressure rate and top 10 in hurries. No defensive player in football has more QB hits than Odighizuwa’s 16 over the last seven weeks. That list includes Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Defensive Player of the Year favorite T.J. Watt, who might just be the three best defenders in the league. There’s been a lot of talk about the Cowboys signing the best defensive tackle in free agency this offseason. Make no mistake about it: That player is Odighizuwa. Unfortunately, Stephen Jones has already announced Dallas’ intention to tighten its budget this spring. Report: Cowboys could be without CB Trevon Diggs for quite some time – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire The Cowboys secondary has played well without Trevon Diggs for long stretches this season, but the thought of starting 2025 without him is a very tough pill to swallow. Diggs will undergo surgery to repair his left knee after suffering an injury in the team’s Week 14 loss to Cincinnati, the Cowboys announced over the weekend. The issue is reportedly with his articular cartilage, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and apparently separate from the knee ailment that kept him out of Weeks 12 and 13. “This is something that occurred during the [Week 14] game,” head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed in his postgame press conference after the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers. Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones elaborated on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan on Monday, saying he did not expect Diggs to be ready for training camp next summer and adding, “but I think his timeline will be right at the start of the season.” Diggs had played every defensive snap of the Monday night meeting with the Bengals and then consulted with the Cowboys’ medical staff during the week. After missing multiple practices and some testing, the decision was made to keep Diggs home from the trip to Charlotte and proceed with plans for surgery. “He was having to play with fluid in his knee. He was out there doing everything he can because he wants to play, he wants to compete, he wants to contribute,” Jones said of the 26-year-old Diggs. “It’s certainly a very legitimate injury that’s gonna take him some time to recover from. We got a vision that we can get him ready to do next year.” In his Monday post to X, Rapoport put the recovery time at “up to eight months.” Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence won’t return this week – Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk Veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is running out of time to play again this season. Lawrence, who has not played since Week 4, will not return this week. “I don’t see DeMarcus being available this week,” head coach Mike McCarthy said, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “He wasn’t part of the conversation.” The Cowboys have only three games remaining, and almost out of playoff contention, it makes no sense to bring back Lawrence, who becomes a free agent in March. He is recovering from a Lisfranc injury in his right foot that was expected to keep him out 4-8 weeks.

Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images Who wins tonight… Chicago or Minnesota? Atlanta or Las Vegas? The Chicago Bears play the Minnesota Vikings, and the Atlanta Falcons take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football. FanDuel has the Vikings as 7-point favorites over the Bears, while the Falcons are 5.5-point favorites over the Raiders. Final score predictions: Vikings 30 – Bears 17, Falcons 24 – Raiders 16. Check out FanDuel for all of your NFL betting needs. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys won on Sunday and we have some thoughts about it all one day later. The Dallas Cowboys are winners of three of their last four. When this sentence is true in the month of December, then you are generally talking about a very good football team. Obviously that is not the case in our current moment as the Cowboys are a month away from having only 2025 to look forward to (in all likelihood). Multiple things can be true at same time though, and while this season is just about ready to be put on the shelf and never talked about again, the way that the team is currently playing is objectively impressive. This is all the more true when we consider how they got here. Following their loss to the Houston Texans the Cowboys were 3-7 and on the verge of some truly diabolical records. Since then they stuck their foot in the ground and beat a Washington Commanders team that has impressed even more ever since, took care of business against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving Day, arguably should have beaten the Cincinnati Bengals and thoroughly dominated a Carolina Panthers team that had been playing really well as of late. Given the state of the Cowboys, the idea that Carolina was putting it together will be lost all of a sudden and people will likely dismiss it as “just the Panthers.” Make no mistake about it though, the Cowboys dismantled the Panthers outside of a horrible two-play sequence near the end of the first half. Here are our thoughts on the game and where the Cowboys stand after it with one day’s worth of thought and reflection. Marist Liufau will be an important part of next season’s defense It remains devastating that DeMarvion Overshown is all but officially lost for the 2025 season. He was really emerging as a star and being without him will hurt this group. Those circumstances have made it difficult to feel good about anything else. But understanding that we are having a different and separate conversation, the opportunity that has opened for Marist Liufau is one that is being capitalized on. Liufau came in against the Bengals and made an immediate impact. He continued that solid form on Sunday at Carolina with a forced fumble on the first defensive possession that Dallas was a part of. All game long he was a force within the middle of the group. It seems fair to say that the Cowboys found a legitimate player at the end of last year’s third round, one who they are going to need to depend on for some time. Thankfully he appears ready for the challenge. Rico Dowdle’s performance is informative for the future in many ways There is no question that Rico Dowdle is running incredibly well for the Cowboys right now. He should absolutely be celebrated and applauded. We are about a month away from NFL draft conversations kicking off in earnest and there are plenty of Cowboys fans who want to see the team draft Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty was incredible and will probably have some special moments in the College Football Playoff that justify the hype, but I feel like Biff Tannen in that something about all of this feels very familiar. In the lost season of 2015 the Cowboys proved that they could, for all intents and purposes, plug anyone behind their offensive line and produce a viable performance. Darren McFadden wasn’t the featured back until that season was already well lost and still finished with 1,000 yards. You would think that such a performance would have convinced Dallas that they could have found another way to improve at the running back spot without spending the fourth overall pick on the position. The Cowboys will obviously not be picking that high, but again, doesn’t this feel somewhat similar? We know that the Cowboys are going to ignore free agency based on who they have been for over a decade now which means that their first-round pick (wherever it lands) is the most premium resource that they will spend over the offseason. Devoting it to Jeanty, as talented as he is, feels like a luxury this team can’t afford, especially when they are seeing what someone like Rico Dowdle is doing at the moment. To add to the point, McFadden did what he did behind the peak version of the offensive line we all knew and loved, Dowdle is doing it behind a makeshift group. This is a very important lesson that the Cowboys need to show they have learned. There is a very legitimate need for another reliable wide receiver In the stock report for this week it was noted that the Cowboys have gone into two different seasons with a high level of dependence on Jalen Tolbert. Neither has panned out. This is unfortunate, and while there are examples to prove every point, the overwhelming likelihood is that Tolbert is not going to turn into a proper running-mate for CeeDee Lamb. That is something that has to be acted on. For too long now the Cowboys have depended on their star wide receiver to lift them up individually, whether that be CeeDee Lamb or Amari Cooper before him. There was a brief moment in spurts of the 2021 season where we got to see them together, but injuries and what not impacted seeing the duo operating together with one another. There are a number of needs on this roster and we can debate the order that we want to put them in, but in today’s NFL you absolutely need a legitimate threat as your “second” wide receiver. So much is made about getting help for Dak Prescott, and while this is residually accomplishing that, CeeDee Lamb needs help. Hopefully the Cowboys have learned this lesson along with the many others that we have challenged them to take away

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys upset the Carolina Panthers to earn their sixth win of the season on Sunday. This is a real sentence and thing that happened. The Panthers had not been the favorites to win any game over their last 34 tries, but oddsmakers had them slated to defend home field and snap a four-game losing streak against a Cowboys team that came in winners of two of their last three. The lone loss was on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals and came on a botched punt block recovery, all but ending already distant playoff hopes for the Cowboys. Understandably, their motivation to continue playing hard to close out a lost season defined by equal parts ineptitude and injuries has come into question. Dallas answered this question with one of their most complete performances of the season to win 30-14. Mike McCarthy’s team is now 6-8 with three games remaining, and momentum is building towards the fifth-year head coach returning on a new contract. Every performance like this one for a Cowboys team still sitting in third place of the division they won a year ago helps justify letting McCarthy see through the roster getting healthier and Dak Prescott back in the starting lineup at QB. There is still the question of where any resemblance of consistency has been for a team that’s still won just once at home all year. With the Panthers stuck on three wins since Week 10, the combined record of the teams the Cowboys have beat this season is 24-32. The Steelers account for close to half of the wins here as a current 10-4 division leader under Russell Wilson, who did not start the Sunday night game against the Cowboys. What the Cowboys did earn with their early kickoff win at the Panthers, one that FOX analyst Greg Olsen called “gym class” at one point in a penalty-filled second half, is another chance to bring some intrigue to their last primetime game of the season. Similar to the Cowboys hosting the Bengals as a meeting of two losing teams last Monday night but still bringing in record ratings, the Cowboys now have a quality win going into a matchup with a Buccaneers team that’s won four in a row. Tampa Bay is making a surge towards the playoffs, most recently dropping 40 points on a Chargers defense who’s previous high was 30 to the Ravens this season. The matchup of their Baker Mayfield-led offense going up against a Mike Zimmer defense that just had two interceptions, six sacks, and two fumble recoveries against the Panthers will quietly be one of the better ones around the league in Week 16 for Sunday Night Football. Zimmer’s defense had the benefit of playing from ahead in the win at Carolina, with the Cowboys offense getting better as the game went on. They found easy completions for Cooper Rush, ran the ball for a season high 211 yards (surpassing last week’s high of 156), and converted 6 of 12 third-down attempts to control the game. The Bryce Young-led Panthers offense had no answers. Micah Parsons, Osa Odighizuwa, Carl Lawson, and Mazi Smith all set the tone up front for Dallas by beating blocks and getting in the backfield. Even though this group is still missing a Pro Bowl player in DeMarcus Lawrence, they showed a lot against a Panthers team that’s struggled on the offensive line for multiple seasons now. Improved offensive line play in protection of Young had been a huge reason why the Panthers came into this game playing much better football despite close losses, but the Cowboys defensive line proved too much for them. Dallas’ own offensive line had much more of a say in winning up front in this game, with another patchwork group still paving the way for Rico Dowdle to have a career day and giving Rush time to read the field. Though not technically eliminated from the playoff picture yet, the Cowboys are still very much in the mode of evaluating what they have for 2025 at this point in the year, and saw a lot to like in all three phases against the Panthers to earn a bounce-back win. Let’s get to a few other notes on the action that saw Dallas jump ahead 10-0 in the first half and never look back, leading by as much as 20 in the fourth quarter. Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images The Cowboys did their best to show why they were betting underdogs to a three-win team early on this game, forced to punt on their first two possessions including the first of the game. A big second-down play down the middle to CeeDee Lamb was negated by an illegal formation penalty, and Dallas did the predictable thing of force-feeding Lamb the ball again on a screen on second and even longer to bring up their first third-down try of the afternoon. Rush was sacked on a corner blitz, and the Cowboys quickly punted. The Panthers held the ball for 13 plays on the ensuing drive, their longest of the game, and got into the red zone, looking to quickly seize momentum and take the lead. The Cowboys have plenty of replacement level players taking the field on defense on a weekly basis right now, and the Panthers found last week’s scapegoat in Amani Oruwariye quickly to keep the drive alive. Oruwariye also had an offsides penalty lining up in the neutral zone in press coverage. The Panthers also picked on Marist Liufau in coverage, who is much more of a downhill linebacker against the run than one able to stick with backs or receivers in man coverage. Luckily for Dallas, a Panthers team that came in with the sixth-worst turnover differential in the NFL would give them one early as their promising opening drive came up empty. After impressively spinning away from Micah Parsons on a scramble, Young was hit by Liufau and coughed

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys received stellar play from most of their roster during Sunday’s win. The Dallas Cowboys took care of business on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers and did so with relative ease. It was a day in which 95% of things went right for America’s Team with the Cooper Rush fumble and big-time slip on defense at the end of the first half clearly in the remaining 5% of activity. You can’t be perfect for an entire day so we will offer a level of forgiveness. Ultimately it was an impressive outing from a Cowboys team who seemed dazed and confused following last week’s heartbreaker of a loss against the Cincinnati Bengals. Credit to the Cowboys though, they rallied, fought and acted like the better team despite the Panthers being favorites in a game for the first time in two years. As noted just about everything went right which means that just about all of the stocks we are handing out are in the up direction. Here is our stock report following Sunday’s win at Carolina. Stock Up: CeeDee Lamb Once upon a time we used to lament how the Cowboys would not force feed the top receiving option on their team the way that other teams seemed to. Sunday seemed to be the kind of day we all wanted as CeeDee Lamb was targeted 13 times. Notably, Lamb received a ton of work early in the game where the Cowboys were experiencing all sorts of success (even if the end of the first half went sideways). Lamb finished the first half with 105 receiving yards and a touchdown on amazing adjustment. CEEDEE TD (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/KPXS8SbBXe — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 15, 2024 This was a game where Lamb put on the cape and took over to be the hero that the offense needed. You want to see that from the players who you devote serious money to and he lived up to that and then some. Stock Up: Marist Liufau Back during the days of the 2024 NFL Draft we wondered whether or not Marist Liufau would always be the player who the Cowboys took instead of a running back. That will not be the case. Marist will be Marist and he is turning into a linebacker to be very excited about. Liufau jumped in for DeMarvion Overshown on Monday night and shined in that spot. Early on against the Panthers, Liufau popped the ball loose and really changed the game’s momentum. MARIST!!! (via @dallascowboys) pic.twitter.com/WKeQjUQ84g — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 15, 2024 The Cowboys are going to be without Overshown for all of 2025 in all likelihood, but appear to have someone who they can rely on in Marist. He has been a really bright spot on a defense full of them as of late. Shout out to Mike Zimmer for trusting him and putting him in spots to thrive. Stock Up: Jourdan Lewis We have said for years how Jourdan Lewis is one of the toughest players on the Cowboys. He shows up time and time again and always gives his all. That was the case once again on Sunday against the Panthers. LEWIS. KENDRICKS. INT. (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/lP0ZZkUWGE — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 15, 2024 Aside from the deflection here, Lewis was continually in position to make plays against Carolina. He is as reliable as veterans get and his time with the Cowboys is among the most impressive. Stock Up: Eric Kendricks Kendricks benefited from the tip that Lewis had, but more than that he was a monster all over the field. We have seen Kendricks exemplify a clear understanding of Mike Zimmer’s defense throughout his season with this team and justify why the Cowboys wanted to bring him in to run it. There is no question that Kendricks can play at a high level and on Sunday he was operating at peak capacity. What made it more impressive was that his status for the game was somewhat in doubt. Stock Up: Marshawn Kneeland The Cowboys have had to lean on Marshawn Kneeland in the absence of DeMarcus Lawrence and Sunday may have been his best hour. Kneeland blew up an end around early in the game that unfortunately still went for positive yardage for the Panthers. But we are seeing the signs of a legitimate player and someone who will hopefully anchor the defensive line for years to come. He also recovered a fumble on the day. Stock Up: Osa Odighizuwa This may give some pause, but that does not change how true it is: Osa Odighizuwa has been one of the best players on the Cowboys this season. Game in and game out Odighizuwa has shown up and wreaked havoc along the middle of the defensive line. He took over this game on the first play of the second half. OSA!!!! (via @dallascowboys) pic.twitter.com/61bo8Y3ZVm — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 15, 2024 It is extremely likely that we are watching the final days of Odighizuwa in a Cowboys uniform as he is slated to become a free agent in the offseason. He was drafted in the same class as Micah Parsons so it is difficult for him to be the best defensive player in it, but if not for an all-world player that he shared that group with, he would have received far more praise over the last few years. Stock Up: Cooper Rush Early on I was tempted to place Rush in the static stock category because the fumble at the end of the first half was so bad. But he played his way out of it. All told Rush threw three touchdowns, a career high for him. They all traveled more than 10 air yards which proves that he is understanding as he moves along here that he has to push past the line of comfort for himself in terms of aggression. This was a thing of beauty. RUSH HOUR

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images The Dallas Cowboys won with relative ease on Sunday and we have some thoughts on it all. The Dallas Cowboys won another football game. Yes, it was against the lowly three-win Carolina Panthers, but it still counts. This isn’t good news if you were holding out for a great draft pick, but if you like watching your team win, today was a good day for you. It took a bit, but the Cowboys started getting things going on offense and defense. Here are 10 thoughts on the Cowboys 30-14 win over the Panthers. 1. NORTH AND SOUTH RICO For the third-straight game, Rico Dowdle set a new career-high for rushing yards. Against the Panthers, Dowdle had 25 carries for 149 yards (6.0 ypc). He is averaging over 130 yards per game in that span. Every week he looks better. Dowdle is running with more energy, showing great shiftiness, and has become a hard north-and-south runner. He’s been the team’s grinder and it’s worked well. 2. ANOTHER SHUFFLE FOR THE OLINE What makes Dowdle’s resurgence even more impressive is how the Cowboys are pulling this off with a banged-up offensive line. Every week they are dealing with a new injury. They started the day down two starters, Zack Martin (out for the year) and Cooper Beebe (concussion). This week, backup guard T.J. Bass got hurt forcing the team to shuffle once again. Left tackle Chuma Edoga moved to right guard and rookie Tyler Guyton took his spot at left tackle. Surprisingly, the offensive line held things together well with Dowdle running and Cooper Rush only getting sacked once. Not too shabby. 3. LAMB IS SPECIAL Even without Dak Prescott throwing him the ball, CeeDee Lamb is a star. He finished the game with nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. It was his first 100-yard performance since Rush took over at quarterback. On the Cowboys’ first scoring drive, it was all Lamb as he accounted for 62 of the team’s 77 yards. He only had three catches, but he had to work for them as a couple of passes were underthrown. It didn’t matter though as Lamb made the necessary adjustments and came away with the catch. The Cowboys were finally in business. 4. COSTLY SWING With the first half winding down, it looked like the Cowboys were on the cusp of scoring a touchdown and going up 17-0 in the game. But just before we could get excited, things took a bad turn when Rush fumbled the ball. The Panthers jumped on it ending the Cowboys’ possession. Then, on their very next play, Bryce Young found Jalen Coker wide-open for an 83-yard touchdown. Instead of 17-0, it was a 10-7 game. 5. RETURNING THE FAVOR Just as quickly as the Panthers shifted the momentum at the end of the first half, they immediately gave it back when they fumbled on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Osa Odighizuwa got to Young causing the ball to come loose. Chauncey Golston was quick to pounce on it. Five plays later, the Rush found Jalen Tolbert in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Just like that, the Cowboys were back up by 10. 6. THE TWO JALENS That’s right. You heard correctly. Tolbert scored a touchdown. It’s been an underwhelming season for the team’s third-year wide receiver. He hasn’t had a game with more than three catches since October and his biggest play came on the game-winning catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But now he has another big play as he hauled in a nice touchdown catch while keeping both feet in bounds. It was his only catch of the game, but it was a big one. Speaking of his only catch, his teammate Jalen Brooks also had a catch, and it too went for a touchdown, the first of his career. It was nice to see either of these two do something meaningful as these plays have been few and far between from the Cowboys’ depth receivers. 7. THE 70-YARD ATTEMPT Mike McCarthy had chances to allow Cowboys’ kicker Brandon Aubrey to attempt a record-breaking field against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving inside a warm, turfed stadium such as AT&T, but he chose not to each time. Against Carolina, one of those opportunities showed up as he had a chance to kick a 70-yarder right before the end of the first half. Sadly, the kick never had a chance. It was wide left and considerably short. The Panthers tried to return it, but it didn’t turn into anything. Oh well, it was still fun to watch. 8. MICAH AND FRIENDS Bryce Young had a rough game. He was sacked six times. The Cowboys pass rush gave him all sorts of fits as five different players recorded a sack. But most of the damage came from the Cowboys defensive linemen from their 2021 draft class – Micah Parsons, Osa Odighizuwa, and Chauncy Goltson. They each had four tackles in this game and at least one sack (Parsons had two). They were stripping the ball, pouncing on fumbles, and just creating all types of problems for Young. These three defensive linemen were drafted by the Cowboys in 2021.They each had at least one sack today.All three are still in their rookie contract, but that will change this offseason. pic.twitter.com/mQ62tlzlVG — Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) December 15, 2024 9. A GOOD GAME FROM LIUFAU The injury to DeMarvion Overshown was devastating news last week as it will sideline one of the team’s top young defenders for quite some time. With Overshown out of action, it meant more snaps for rookie linebacker Marist Liufau, and he took full advantage. Liufau finished the game tied for the team lead in tackles and had a couple of splash plays. He had a tackle for a loss as well as a forced fumble when he punched the ball out of Young’s hands. We miss Overshown deeply, but it